60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 51

Justice League America #51
Jun. '91
"My Dinner with G'nort"
A profound psychological study of lonely, tormented spirits in search of truth ... as brought to you by DC's most sensitive soul-searchers:
"Svelte" Keith Giffen - plot
"Slim" J.M. DeMatteis - script
"Tall" Adam Hughes - pencils
"Big" Joe Rubinstein - inks
"Elliptical" Bob Lappan - letters
"Square" Gene D'Angelo - colors
"Amorphous" Kevin Dooley - asst. ed.
"Hexagonal" Andy Helfer - editor

Justice League Europe #27
Jun. '91
"The Vagabond King"
Still another Giffen, Jones, Sears, Elliott, Lappan, D'Angelo, Dooley and Helfer presentation


As if seeing Adam Hughes' pencils and Joe Rubinstein's inks return to JLA wasn't treat enough, Booster Gold also returns to the pages, dropping by the New York embassy to catch up with his former teammates. And what a night he chooses to return: After being banned from the League following a disaster with Justice League Antarctica (from JLA Annual #4), G'nort nevertheless drops by the New York pad to say hello, and he and Kilowog convince J'onn to join them for an aliens' night out on the town. Naturally, disaster ensues--even Black Hand returns, and ends the issue interred in the Home for the Terminally Bewildered--and Booster and Beetle get to enjoy it all together from the sidelines. This issue's a treat all around.

Apparently JLA #51 takes place before the current story arc in JLE, where Kilowog and the majority of the League's European branch get "starred" by Starro. (If years of fandom have produced an actual term for that process, I apologize for not knowing it and using it here. UPDATE: Issue 28 reveals that "starred" is, in fact, the proper term. Yo-ho!) The only members unaffected are Captain Atom, Rocket Red and Metamorpho, whose "inorganic coatings" prevent the face-hugging stars from bonding. The trio flies all the way to New York to enlist aid (don't ask me why Rocket Red doesn't have a communicator built into his suit that could keep him connected to the League's various embassies), and in the glorious tradition of the JLI, J'onn concocts a maybe-halfway-decent plan that falls all to pieces when he himself becomes the new host for Starro's central consciousness. This is a great second chapter in what's shaping up to be a Starro story for the ages--and yes, it's very much making me want to go back and re-read Grant Morrison's Starro tale from his later JLA run.

As usual, both books' letters pages offer cover credits. "Justice Log" notes, "Cover by penciller Adam Hughes, inker Joe Rubinstein, and colorist Bob Le Rose." "Europinion" shares, "Cover by Bart Sears and Bob Le Rose--pencils and colors." Also in "Justice Log," L-Ron drops by to respond to a letter from Matt "Elvis" Apple of Annadale-on-Hudson, NY, and writes, "This is my second letter column. You know, I could get used to this. What say you, readers? Shall I answer your letters and give this Dooley-person the metallic boot?" Hard to say whether there will be time for the transition, though, as the book races toward issue 60. Speaking of which, the "next issue" blurb is worth noting: "For those of you who think all we can do is humor, you won't want to miss the last page. Things are going to get real serious real fast, fans." Stay tuned.

The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #50/26, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


All images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 50

Justice League America #50
May '91
At last! The concluding chapter in the seemingly endless saga of General Glory
"A Blaze of Glory!"
Four years ago, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Andrew Helfer launched the brand-new Justice League, and--heaven help us--fifty issues later, they're still at it!
Now, aided by Linda Medley, John Beatty, Paris Cullins, Dave Elliott, Gene D'Angelo, Bob "Does this make me an accomplice to an aesthetic crime?" Lappan, and that crazy kid from California, Kevin Dooley--the inanity continues!
Special thanks to Kevin, Terry, Al, Ty, Joe, Mike, and Adam--for helping make this book the great success (or miserable failure, depending on who you talk to) that it is!

Justice League Europe #26
May '91
"Stars in Your Eyes"
Giffen - plot
Jones - dialogue
Sears - pencils
Elliott - inks
Lappan - letters
D'Angelo - colors
Dooley - this
Helfer - that


And suddenly we find ourselves in the home stretch, with Week 60 not so far off anymore. Clearly, though, the action hasn't abated. The General Glory saga concludes in epic fashion, replete with WWII-era flashbacks, the clearing of General Glory's name and yet another membership shake-up, this one seeing Orion and Lightray bidding adieu while General Glory and the "new" Mister Miracle are invited in. Also, the whole shebang ends with Guy Gardner calling up Andy Helfer at DC Comics and demanding that Glory's artist, Joe Mason, be made the penciler for the League's comic book.

Guy's phone call offers the springboard into a wonderful--and completely nuts--15-page backup story written and illustrated by Kyle Baker, in which Guy storms the DC offices with Mr. Mason in tow, offering a raw portrait of JLA's creative team, including (clockwise from left) Helfer, Giffen and DeMatteis...

...and even Linda Medley.

Across the pond, Starro conquers the latest iteration of the famous JLI cover shot, while inside the book he plays helpless and penitent, duping the League into helping repair his spacecraft so that he might die peacefully back on his homeworld. As Inspector Camus moves into an office in the JLE's embassy (an office, by the way, he has to share with the cat's litter box), Kilowog leads the League through the repairs on Starro's ship, but when the spacecraft lifts off, it explodes in the atmosphere. For a moment it seems Starro's lost and gone forever, but the final pages reveal his face-hugging stars raining down over London, whose inhabitants are quickly taken up in the conqueror's thrall. It's an excellent beginning to what will hopefully be a solid chapter in Starro's history, and while the art doesn't sing to me quite like it did last issue, Sears and Elliott nevertheless deliver grade-A work that's always great to look at.

There are some good nuggets in both books' letters pages. Beginning with "Justice Log," we learn: 1) "Glorious Cover by Adam Hughes, Karl Story, and Gene D'Angelo"; 2) "J'onn twists the Oreos apart when he meditates, and makes decisions by how much cream remains on one side, then he dips each half in milk"; and 3) Jacob Gilbert of Troy, NY alerts us to a mysterious "Special" and writes, "Farewell, Huntress. We hardly knew ya, luv. We'll definitely miss you." (So, I guess we won't be seeing her in these pages anymore.) And in "Europinion," we read: 1) "Mr. Bart styled the cover with haircolor by Mr. Bob"; 2) Tasmanian Devil "is a member of the JL ... in Australia"; and 3) Mister Miracle's book is ending with issue 28--I never read it, but the preview summaries in these letters pages have sounded entertaining.

And finally--for this week, anyway--let's take some time to appreciate two ads that meant a lot to me back in '91:

The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal ad copyright Ralston Purina Company and Mirage Studios. Rocketeer ad copyright Disney. All other images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 49

Justice League America #49
Apr. '91
"Glory Bound, Pt. 4: Glory and Shame"
Guns at the ready, a patriotic song on their lips, those freedom-fighting daredevils of DC strike again!
Keith Giffen, plot & breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis, script & kibitzing
Linda Medley, pencils
John Beatty, inks
Bob Lappan, letters
Gene D'Angelo, colors
Kevin "Halls of Montezuma" Dooley, asst. editor
Andy "Montezuma's Revenge" Helfer, editor

Justice League Europe #25
Apr. '91
"Nightcrawlers!"
Keith Giffen, creepy plot
Gerard Jones, crawly dialogue
Bart Sears, squirmy pencils
Randy Elliott, wriggly inks
Bob Lappan, slimy letters
Gene D'Angelo, slippery colors
Kevin Dooley, squishy assistance
Andy Helfer, soil aeration


In the penultimate chapter of the "Glory Bound" saga, General Glory's accused of committing war crimes back in the Second World War, namely destroying an Allied P.O.W. camp and killing everyone therein. What with his amnesia and all, the good General can't say for certain that he's innocent, and goes willingly into custody--although Guy Gardner isn't quite so willing to stand by and watch this happen, and it takes the rest of the League to keep him from absconding with Glory and grinding the feds to pulp.

As the story unfolds, Schmidt takes flight in yet another Nazi superweapon, this one a flying sphere called "The Evil Eye." Meanwhile, Joe Mason, the artist of General Glory's old comic book, steps forward to help the League clear Glory's name. It's pretty fantastic (not to mention meta) that the fate of this hero seems to lie in the hands of his illustrator.

Speaking of artists, Medley continues to do excellent work in her fourth consecutive issue, but it's JLE whose pages really shine. The usual team of Sears and Elliott again handle the art chores, but Elliott seems to have upped his game significantly for the final chapter of the Crimson Fox origin arc, truly fleshing out Sears' pencils and adding three-dimensionality to the 2-D page. (Credit, of course, is also due D'Angelo's coloring prowess.) I've liked his inks since he joined this title back in issue 16, but here his contributions clearly elevate the already impressive art.

There being two sisters who share the cowl of the Crimson Fox, and my being pretty in the dark about the character beyond the JLE issues we've so far covered, I did wonder whether one of the two would prove to be expendable in the creators' eyes, but in usual heroic fashion, both D'Aramis sisters survive to continue fighting crime. There's no such happy ending for the giant worms, however, nor for the D'Aramis' sworn nemesis, Puanteur, whose thirst for vengeance completely blinds him to any practical considerations, such as preserving his own neck. This is a morality tale, after all.

"Justice Log" offers some fun facts this issue, great for keeping people entertained at parties, to wit:

The most important question we've ever been asked comes form Michael Thibodoeau, Edmunston, New Brunswick, Canada. It's "What does J'onn prefer most: Oreos, Oreo Double Stuff, or chocolate-coated Oreos?" Answer: yes, but usually the plain ones.
Lots of basic questions from Sigurdur Jonas Gudmundsson, Paris, France, like when we published and who was in our first JLA magazine. The first JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was in 1960 and starred Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, and J'onn J'onzz. ... He asks who was DC's first character--probably Oswald the Rabbit in NEW FUN COMICS in 1935.

And of course, what's a letter column without cover credits? From "Justice Log": "Cover Credit Cards: Adam 'Mastercard' Hughes on pencils, Karl 'Visa' Story on inks, and Bob 'AMEX' Le Rose on colors." And from "Europinion": "Cover by Bart, Randy, and Bob--pencils, inks, colors."

The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


All images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 48

Justice League America #48
Mar. '91
"The Last Giant Nazi Robot Story!"
From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli--the saga of General Glory continues, courtesy of our men (and woman!) on the front lines:
Keith Giffen, plot & breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis, script & kibitzing
Linda Medley, pencils
John Beatty, inks
Bob Lappan, letters
Gene D'Angelo, colors
Kevin D'Ooley, point man
Andrew D'Helfer, commander-in-chief
Special thanks to Paris Cullins & Dave Elliott

Justice League Europe #24
Mar. '91
"Wormfood"
A Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones, Bart Sears, Randy Elliott, Bob Lappan, Gene D'Angelo, Kevin Dooley and Andy Helfer presentation.


The third chapter of the General Glory story continues in fine fashion as the General's arch-nemesis, Herr Schmidt retreats to a Nazi hideaway in South America, whence he guides the giant robot seen on the issue's cover. The creative team continues to fire on all cylinders, and most impressive of all are five pages dedicated to the origin of General Glory (not to mention his erstwhile sidekick, Ernie the Battlin' Boy, who was also apparently the inspiration for Guy Gardner's bowl cut). Presented as though pulled from the pages of the General's self-titled comic book, these pages look fantastic and drive home the homage to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America.

JLE's giant-worm/Crimson Fox story, on the other hand, falls into the rut of second-act malaise, treading water in the build-up to next issue's conclusion. In this chapter, the Leaguers chase the worms underground and find their communal resting place, but before anyone can plot a course of action, the maniacal Maurice Puanteur summons the worms to the D'Aramis' Revson facility in London, where one of the Crimson Fox sisters lies trapped, awaiting her apparent demise. I'm still hoping for an exciting third act, but this middle chapter just felt worn out. Anyway, as Royal Tenenbaum would say, "That's just one man's opinion."

Following the stories themselves, JLE's letters offer little beyond the cover credits--"Cover art by Bart Sears & Randy Elliott, color by Bob Le Rose"--while JLA's deliver that and so much more. Cover-credit-wise, we're told "Adam Hughes played the penciller, Karl Story appeared as the inker, and Bob Le Rose was Thorny ... uh ... the colorist." Dooley also writes, "To Mike Lansley, Mechanicsville, MD ... and Liz Hunter (no address on letter) who want to know why Orion changed his costume from that nifty new one to the hideous old one? The new one is his ritual garb for ceremonies and job applications, like JL membership." Better still is this nugget: "Welcome back to terra firma to the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The pilot of the mission was a 42-year-old Air Force Colonel named ... Guy Gardner! Maybe someday we'll show you readers the sketches we did for the flight in cooperation with NASA to be faxed up to the shuttle." I don't suppose anyone knows whether those sketches were ever printed? If so, let me know!

The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #49/25, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


All images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

Of Things Pelagic, Part 3

It's been more than a year since I last paused to take stock of this blog--and 3 years to the day since I fired my first volley--and I do believe this is as a good a time as any to check my heading and see how far off-course the ship might have sailed. After two years of spotty blogging, I've finally managed to stay focused on comics and maintain a consistent run of posts--at least one a week since May of '09. I've even kept up with "Bag It and Board It," reading and reviewing more than 50 trade collections and graphic novels. (Granted, I abandoned the column's original formula, eschewing the proposed weekly post about floppies.) There are always plans to continue posting the occasional "Page and Panel" and "Memory from the Longbox" as well, but my "60 Weeks with the Justice League" project has effectively sapped whatever time I would have had for those columns. Ah well, with a bit of luck, there's still the future.

But that's not to say all's gone according to plan. Last year, after chiding myself for not getting my long-talked-about webcomic online two years prior, I went on to promise both the comic and--ha-ha!--a Facebook page in the near future. Probably no one's noticed the absence of either, but trust me, they aren't there, and after two previous "Pelagic" postings, I've learned better than to ascribe a timetable this time around. I will say this, however: Don't hold your breath on the Facebook page. It may well come at some point down the line, but only if I see it as a viable means of garnering attention for the aforementioned webcomic, which I'll only tease here by saying it's well into visual development and it's been rechristened. As I've said before, like all things worthwhile, this is meant to be an adventure, and those rarely go according to plan.

Finally, while I have been drawing, I know it hasn't been enough, and none of it's been aimed for the ol' D.D. (The last image I posted was way back in October. That's even more negligent than I thought.) However, I'm currently cooking something up that, if I can get it together, will get a lot--a lot--of my own drawings up here throughout 2011. For better or worse.

Now then. Back to work. Yo-ho!


Image copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.